The Ghana Micro-finance Institutions Network has bemoaned the negative impact the alleged embezzlement and fraud by its members will have on its operations.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Network, Yaw Gyamfi, the situation has resulted in panic among its members.
“It will definitely have a negative impact on the industry and that will call for quick measures to redeem our image once more. These are things we have gone through before, but it’s unfortunate that much as we are putting in so much effort, this had to come out” Mr. Gyamfi bemoaned.
The Bank of Ghana has referred the directors of 30 microfinance companies to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for investigations and prosecution for alleged embezzlement and fraud.
The names of the companies are however being withheld for security reasons.
In an interview with Citi Business News, Mr. Gyamfi said an emergency meeting will be held soon to inform their next line of action.
“We are planning an emergency meeting to look at the next line of actions and also to ascertain whether these are true members of microfinance institutions or not”, he added.
He further stated that the development “Will have a larger impact even on the whole financial system”.
Whatever happens at the micro finance level has its implications even at the commercial bank level because as we speak no microfinance in this country has an account that is operating independently of commercial banks,” he said.